Learning from organising and campaigning amongst

informal workers

The scale of informal employment in non agricultural sectors 2004-2010

• South Asia: 82% range: 62% in Sri Lanka to 84% in India

• Sub-Saharan Africa: 66%range: 33% in South Africa to 52% in Zimbabwe to 82% in Mali

• East and Southeast Asia: 65% range: 42% in Thailand to 73% in Indonesia

• Latin America: 51%range: 40% in Uruguay to 75% in Bolivia

• Middle East and North Africa: 45%range: 31% in Turkey to 57% in West Bank & Gaza

• Eastern Europe & Central Asia: 10%range: 6% in Serbia to 16% in Moldova

WIEGO • WIEGO seeks to increase the voice, visibility and validity of the working poor, especially women

• Works primarily in four sectors – domestic workers, home workers, waste pickers and street vendors

Informal workers want• Economic rights• Legal identity and social recognition as workers• Social rights & social protection• Voice and bargaining power• Organisation

Some learnings• Dignity matters to all workers• Workers organise beyond trade unions• Collective bargaining• Informal workers in the global value chain• Sources of power• Worker controlled cooperatives• Collection of cash dues• Working with limited resources• Simple messaging• Community unionism• Membership first

Dignity in work has meaning for all workersWaste picker member of KKPKP in municipal sort site, Pune

Workers organise beyond trade unions

• WIEGO works with Membership Based Organisations: Trade unions, Cooperatives, Voluntary Associations, Self help groups, Clubs and societies

• Criteria for association with WIEGO – members, elected leadership and accountability, independence, promotion of collectivism and solidarity

Collective Bargaining can exist even without an employer e.g.

• Local government for space to trade, sanitation facilities for traders etc

• Local government for access to waste for waste pickers to sort

• Private city property owners for trading spaces • National government for extension of social protection to all informal workers

• National government for minimum rates for home worker produced goods

The global value chain goes beyond the factory

Bulgarian home based worker, Rozaline, makes up to 800 of these paper bags by hand  at home every day. The contractor takes commissions from large multinational retail companies. Rozaline earns a maximum of  15 Euros per day. 

Worker power is not derived exclusively from the capacity to withhold labour power

• Disruptive economic power in distribution (street vendors) 

• Environmental power (waste pickers)• Symbolic power

Symbolic power

Closure of the National Road to Cape Town, South Africa, by seasonal farm workers November 2012 

Successful worker cooperatives

SWACH coop worker in Pune suburbSWACH coop worker at University of Pune

Membership dues cash collection IS possibleKKPKP (Waste Picker Union, Pune, India) Membership dues book

A sharp reminder of what’s possible with very little

KKPK & Credit union office Pune SEWAs grassroots research team office

     Simple messaging is best

Community unionism works when it is focused

SEWA Peace Centre, Ahmedabad

Prokrudee at SEWA Milky Way Club: I read books, I tell stories. I want to be a teacher

Membership Comes firstThe SEWA Bunyan Tree, with membership at the top, the organisation growing downward roots